Reunion
by doctor anthony
Summary: After ME2 Ashley goes to the Citadel to meet her old commander when she instead runs into some old friends who want some questions answered. Warning slight Ashley bashing in this fic.


Reunion

Authors Notes I don't own Mass Effect Bioware does. Warning this is set after Mass Effect 2 so there will be some spoilers in this fic. And this is my first Mass Effect fanfic so please let me know what you all thought of it.

It was just an average day for Ashley Williams when she got a message from her old commander John Shepard saying that he had completed his mission against the Collectors and that he wanted to talk to her on the Citadel in Flux bar as soon as possible.

And now that's where she was now as Ashley walked up the stairway to the bar she was surprised to see no one was there except for some people at the back of the bar, some people she knew very well.

It was Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah and Joker some of her old friends from the Normandy. As soon as she took noticed them, they noticed her and invited her to sit with them.

As she sat down Ashley noticed that Shepard wasn't anywhere and she said questionably "So where is John, and where is everyone else It's happy hour and this place is virtually empty?".

Tali suddenly and in an angered tone of voice said "John isn't going to be here tonight Ashley as he doesn't even know that we are here. We have to talk about a few things first ok".

Ashley nodded and said "Alright what do you all want to talk to me about?".

Garrus then answered "We want to talk about what you did on Horizon Ashley, we want to know why, when our friend needed all the help he needed to fight the Collectors that you abandoned him and us because of 1 little insufficient thing of who he was working for".

Ashley then yelled out "1 little insufficient thing Garrus!, all three of you and John were working with Cerberus!, don't you all remember the experiments they done, what they did to Rear Admiral Khoku!. How could you all agree to work with those terrorists?!".

Joker only said "Ashley don't you remember what the Alliance did after Shepard died, how they disgraced his name and ignored all the evidence he had on the Reapers. And how they grounded me from flying a ship, so when Cerberus offered a chance to fly a ship again I took it. Cerberus also brought him back from the dead and rebuilt the Normandy and gave us the resources to destroy the Collector threat once and for all. And when The Illusive Man wanted to keep the Collector base to fight the Reapers, Shepard refused to give to him and destroyed it, right before he quit Cerberus!. Now can you understand why we worked with Cerberus?. It was because they were the only people who actually acknowledged the Reaper threat and who were prepared to do something about it".

Ashley didn't say a word and Garrus said "Ashley remember all the time we spent going after Saren, how could you not give John the benefit of the doubt and trust him when he wanted your help against the Collectors, after all he did for your family after we stopped Saren when he got the Alliance to apologise for disgracing your father and grandfather and you for what happened on Shanxi all those years ago? You didn't even give him a chance to explain himself on Horizon you just called him a traitor and declared your loyalty to the Alliance which we all understand as it is in your blood".

Before Ashley could say a word Tali said "We understand why you were hesitant of John working with Cerberus myself and Garrus had the exact same thoughts when we met up with John again but we trusted him".

Ashley then said "Are you implying that I didn't trust John, trusted him with my life and I will always be grateful for him saying my life on Virmire. But I will never trust Cerberus".

Joker suddenly said "I agree with you Ashley, but weather or not you like Cerberus or you don't, you have to admit this, when the Reapers come we will need all the help we can get to fight them even from terrorists like Cerberus or Batarians slavers as the Reapers are threats to everyone not just the good guys".

Ashley then said in a sarcastic tone of voice "Ok so your saying that the Citadel Council should say Cerberus aren't terrorists and that we need everyone to fight the Reapers including the Geth. Yes I've heard that you are working with a Geth, don't you all remember what they did while working for Saren? How could you agree to work with a Geth considering all the damage they have done throughout the years?".

Tali immediately stood up and said "Do you think we just nodded at Johns suggestion of a Geth working with us and said sure do whatever you want John we trust you saying that this Geth wont kill us in our sleep. I nearly killed Legion at one point for scanning my Omni-Tool and trying to send information about the Migrant Fleet back to his Geth faction. Before I did however John convinced me that when it comes to the Reapers everyone needs to put their differences aside at least briefly and work together to stop the Reapers even Geth and Quarians will need to work together when they come. We were then both given an idea by John to share information of non military nature as a compromise".

Ashley then said curiously "Why was this Geth scanning your Omni-Tool for Tali?".

Tali then answered "Legion was scanning my Omni-Tool for data of weapons used by my people on Geth parts for experimentation. Legion was apparently worried about it and wanted to warn his people, which I now understand if the roles were reversed I would have done the same thing".

Garrus then said "Ashley we want to ask you this question, now that John isn't working for Cerberus anymore, can you trust him and us to help us fight the Reapers?".

Ashley didn't say a word as she considered what she was told and even though they would never admit it to anyone she knew that if the Reapers were on the verge of destroying the galaxy and if the only ones who could stop them were Cerberus than she would work with them as she knew that any opition was preferable to the Reapers killing everyone in the galaxy.

After a few more minutes of thought Ashley said "I'm sorry to say this Garrus but I cant trust John anymore because he worked with terrorists but I admit that Cerberus will be needed to help fight the Reapers but I wont fight alongside him, after all when he was brought back he didn't even try to contact me, not once before Horizon".

Suddenly another familiar voice said "Ashley I did try to find you after I was brought back, I asked The Illusive Man for your whereabouts, I asked Anderson, I asked everyone I could think of about where you were and I was stonewalled at every turn".

Ashley then saw her old Commander John Shepard standing in the middle of the room and Ashley only said "How long have you been standing there John?".

Joker suddenly said "He's been here the entire time Ashley, we set this up as a test so we would know where your loyalties lie and so we would know if we could trust you to help us fight the Reapers".

John then interrupted Joker and said "And from what we know, it's obvious that we cant trust you to help us fight the Reapers".

Ashley then said "John you know you need all the help you can get to fight the Reapers so please let me join you and your crew it'll be like old times except better".

John shook his head and left the bar followed closely by Garrus, Tali and Joker and in that moment Ashley Williams regretted not joining John on Horizon.

The end.

Authors notes well let me know what you thought of this Mass Effect one shot read and review no flames though ok.


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